Open Invitation? (20 page)

The entire ballroom had heard them. The entire ballroom.
Did I force my attentions on you when you sat on my face?

Dan threw back his head and laughed, long and hard. It was a true Texas guffaw in every sense of the word.

His mother, beside herself, slapped his face. Then she turned on her heel and left.

It was all just too much. Lil, always calm, cool and collected in any social situation, burst into tears.

D
AN WAS AT HER SIDE
in an instant, his strong arms going around her. “Aw, honey,” he said, “don't cry. Things are gonna be fine.”

His shirt smelled of starch and the vaguest hint of cologne. It also smelled like him. Part of her wanted to run her hands up underneath it to feel his bare chest beneath. Part of her wanted to grab him by it and shake him until his teeth rattled. She was so utterly confused, furious, mortified.

He produced the handkerchief again and kissed the top of her head. She honked into the square of cloth, stepped away from him and saw that she'd left a large, black mascara blotch on the formerly snowy shirt. She burst into fresh tears. “I'm sorry I ruined your shirt. And I hate you.”

He tilted up her chin. “You sure about that? 'Cuz I coulda sworn you just said you'd fallen in love with me.”

She shook her head.

“You callin' me deaf as well as stupid?”

This time she nodded.

“Are we both deaf, then?”

She said nothing, just occupied herself with the handkerchief.

“Because I do believe I admitted falling in love with you, too. And I can't even ask you not to tell anyone, because the whole dang ballroom heard me say it.”

She blew her nose. The man she hated was in love with her? The man who'd just disgraced her publicly in front of the crème de la crème of London society? Lil slid down the wall, plopped inelegantly onto her bottom and stared at him.

Dan said kindly, “It's socially correct in these situations to say, ‘I love you, too.'”

She didn't trust herself to speak.

“Even if it's a little white lie. Remember, you're supposed to lie in certain situations. This etiquette consultant I met once taught me that.”

Finally she said, “How can I hate you and love you at the same time?”

He scratched his head. “I don't know. But you can. It's part of the feminine mystique. You gals are all kinda squirrely in the head. Otherwise you'd have kicked us men outta your lives a long time ago. Formed your own planet and just kept us in cages for reproductive purposes.”

Lil began to laugh weakly.

“Wait a minute,” said Dan. “Did you just admit that you love me?”

She nodded.

“I hear tell that it's customary for two people to kiss after they say that.”

“Emily Post, page five hundred ninety-two.”

He bent and took her hands, pulling her to her feet. “Lil, darlin', where have you been all my life?” And be
fore she could answer, that sexy cowboy mouth came down on hers.

She fell headlong into the kiss, craving the warmth and the taste and the smell of him. He pulled her so hard against him that they almost fused together, and before she knew it, he was backing her toward the powder room again.

“No!” she said into his mouth, but he ate the word and swallowed it, somehow managing to kiss her and grin at the same time. When he finally raised his head, they were inside and he was kicking the door closed with one of those black boots of his.

“We cannot do this at your sister's wedding!”

He lifted her onto the marble countertop and waggled his eyebrows at her.

“No.”

He brushed his thumbs over her nipples and she gasped as sexual lightning streaked through her.

“No?” His hands crept up under her skirt and found the thigh-high stockings held in place by garter straps. “What's this? Oh, God! I promise I won't do anything you don't want me to—just let me see.”

His plea was so heartfelt that she couldn't refuse him. She let him lift the skirt of her dress and look with awe at the skimpy red lace garter belt that she wore, for the first time in her life, with one of those “slutty” thongs.

Dan made a desperate, groaning sound and dropped to his knees, clutching his heart. “Matching bra?”

She nodded. “Push up. See-through.”

“Show me?”

She couldn't just take off her dress at his sister's wedding! For all she knew, the queen herself could be out there in the ballroom now.

“Please?”

She wavered. “No touching.
Promise
.”

“Cruel, cruel woman. I won't touch.”

Lil slid off the counter, feeling wicked, and presented her back to him. He eased the zipper down and she stepped out of the blue silk dress, still turned away from him.

In the mirror, she saw Dan actually shove his knuckles into his mouth and gnaw. He moaned past them and feasted his eyes on her.

She turned, looked at him over her shoulder and smiled.

“I'm the scarlet harlot, am I not?”

He shook his head.

The smile fell off her face. “How come?”

“You're just not harlot material, honey. But you are the embodiment of all my fantasies.”

“Really?” She couldn't help the pleasure seeping through her veins at his statement. She didn't think she'd ever been a man's fantasy before.

Dan stood up. “I know I promised not to touch, but your strap, there, needs a small adjustment.”

“Where?”

“I'll show you.” He took two steps toward her, and before she knew what he was about, he'd pulled the left bra strap off her shoulder, the lacy cup down and fastened his mouth over her nipple.

“Ohhh!” The suction was exquisite, the heat wonderful, his tongue irresistible. Lil sagged against him, the big, fat liar.

He chuckled, pulling the strap from her right shoulder off, and that cup down, too.

“You—ahhhh…”

Suddenly the cold, marble counter was beneath her almost bare bottom again and Dan was between her knees while she leaned weakly against the ornate gilt mirror. He slid the thong aside easily and stroked her while she quivered and moaned at his touch.

She shouldn't…he shouldn't…they shouldn't. But as Lil gave in to pleasure, she didn't care if Prince Charles and the Duchess Camilla were out there. All she cared about were Dan's hands on her, and then Dan sliding into her, and finally Dan blurring into a rainbow cowboy who rode her to nirvana.

 

H
E DIDN'T WANT HER
to get dressed, but she drew the line at leaving the wedding of the season naked. “Just go call a cab,” she urged him. “Then we'll slip out the back.”

He set his hands on his hips. “It would be incredibly rude to leave without saying goodbye to Claire and Roddy. You, of all people, should know that.”

Lil stepped into her dress and turned so he could zip her up. Her head throbbed at even the thought of entering that ballroom again after they'd been broadcast news. She made an executive etiquette decision. “I don't care.”

“Excuse me?”

“I. Don't. Care.”

“You don't care about being rude, or you just care too much about what all those bejeweled snobs out there think of you? I think it's the latter.”

Lil turned and faced him, her mouth tight. “You ask any other woman in the world if she'd go back into that ballroom with you. The answer will be
no
.”

“I didn't ask any other woman in the world. I'm asking you.”

“You're absolutely out of your mind.”

“No, I'm not. Lil, you've led your entire life trying to impress other people with your manners and letting yourself get lost inside the giant book of etiquette. Your spirit has gotten flattened between the pages. Your soul has become rectangular and bound. I want to see you get the hell outta there! Now take my hand, come back into that ballroom with me, and hold your head high. Show 'em what you've got.”

She shrank back from him. “Dan, no! Why are you asking this of me? Why do you want to humiliate me in front of all those people?”

He sighed. “Darlin', I don't want to humiliate you. I want to free you. Don't you see?”

“No, I don't. I'm not doing it.”

He took her lightly by the shoulders. “You think those people in there have never had sex?” He looked thoughtful for a moment.

“What does that have to do with—”

“It
is
possible that the English are too repressed to screw. And how do they keep a stiff upper lip while going down on each other? I guess they don't do that, either—”

“Dan!”

“Yes?”

“You need to get over this problem of yours with the English. Because I like your sister and you're going to have to bring me here a lot.”

“Is that so?”

“That
is
so.”

“Well, I'm not taking you anywhere unless you tilt that little pointed chin up and come dance with me in that ballroom.”

“Dan!”

“I guaran-damn-tee you that everyone in there has had oral sex and doesn't give a rat's ass whether you sat on my face or not. Now come on.” He took her hand and pulled her to the door.

“Wait. At least let me fix my makeup.”

“You are such a girl. I love that about you.”

 

L
IL'S KNEES
knocked together with every inexorable step to the ballroom. She
so
did not want to go in there.

She considered making a break for it and trying to drown herself in the champagne fountain. But Dan would simply pull her out by her pearls and then make her go in dripping wet.

Speaking of her pearls, perhaps she could take a flying leap and hang herself by them from one of the chandeliers. No—they would break, and Nana Lisbeth would haunt her forever for trying to use her inheritance in pursuit of suicide.

Her last option was to whip off a shoe and use the
spike heel to commit hara kiri right there in the foyer. But she was sure that among the distinguished guests there was a doctor in the house. She'd only be resuscitated in the end.

They got closer and closer to the door.

Dan squeezed her hand and shot her a reassuring glance. “It's gonna be fine, honey.”

They walked through the doors and down the shallow steps into the ballroom, only to have all conversation cease while people stared openly at them. The blood drained from Lil's face as even the orchestra stopped.

At a look from Claire they began to play again immediately, and Dan swung Lil out onto the dance floor, supporting her entire weight because her legs had turned to rubber.

The buzz and hum of conversation started again around the room, but Lil had gone too far down the path of humiliation to feel relief. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Claire cross the room to speak to the orchestra. What fresh hell now?

Suddenly the musicians segued into an infectious Texas Two-Step, and Dan's chuckle rumbled in her ear as he moved them into it with gusto. She'd never done it in her life, but it was easy to follow his lead.

Taking their cue from Claire, all of the guests began to clap in time with the music. Bewildered, Lil could only stare at them, these crazy English.

From a back corner of the room, Louella hauled Lovely Nigel onto the dance floor and proceeded to
teach him the Two-Step, too. To Lil's surprise, Dan's mother had flair, and she could move her hips like nobody's business.

Lil started to laugh; she couldn't help it. Dan grinned down at her while Roddy, Claire and several other adventurous couples took to the floor with them and carefully copied their movements.

The formal ball was degenerating—or maybe improving—into a Texas hoedown.

Lil found the strength in her legs again and enjoyed it, the feel of Dan's arm around her waist and his hand in hers; the easy rhythm of the dance and the love shining down from his eyes. There was something else there, too…and she realized it was a mixture of pride and respect.

All she'd done was follow him across a threshold and step onto a dance floor. But she had really impressed him along the way.

The song began to wind down, and Dan squeezed the last few steps from the music before dipping her against his arm. Then he brought her back up and kissed her deeply in front of all the English, who surprised them again by breaking into huge applause.

T
HE STEEPLECHASE
was to be held in the countryside about an hour from London, at the house of a cousin of Lovely Nigel's.

Roddy was overheard to say that he thought it ridiculous to be transporting all the wedding guests out there when the poor sods simply wanted to nurse their hangovers from the night before, but Louella had had her heart set on it for months, so off they all went.

The guests who rode would join in the chase, and those who didn't would mingle over mimosas and bloody Marys until everyone returned for brunch.

Lil awoke early, in her yellow and lilac bedroom, to Dan's tongue in her ear. She smiled and turned in his arms. “Mmm. There's nothing more wonderful than waking up with the man you love.”

Dan kissed her nose and then wrinkled his. “I don't want to wake up with any man, whether I love him or not.”

She shoved him playfully in the chest. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah. Speaking of waking up next to you, we should talk. Because the last time I checked, Connecticut wasn't too close to Texas on the map.”

She ran her finger along his stubbly jaw. “No, it's not. And I'm not sure what to do about that.”

“Can I make a suggestion?”

Lil nodded.

“I have a program in the works. Starting next summer, I'll have anywhere from twenty to forty at-risk urban boys coming out to spend time at my place. They'll take some classes, they'll do some chores, and have some fun. They'll learn what it takes to run a working ranch.”

“That's wonderful, Dan. Why? How did this come about?”

“It came about because I remember being a fourteen-year-old kid whose mother had taken off, a kid with a bad attitude and a penchant for trouble. I can relate to these boys. I can try to head them away from trouble and set them on a better course.”

She kissed him. “You're such an amazing, generous person.”

He snorted. “Nah. I'm just gonna be a guy with a lot of headaches. I'm not under any illusions that I won't be pulling these kids out of scrapes, you know? But what I wanted to talk to you about is this—most of them are coming from tough backgrounds and they have no idea how to conduct themselves off the basketball court or the football field.

“If they're ever going to have a chance to go to college or into the business world, they need to know how to behave and how to dress. And how to treat a lady.”

“I'd love to,” she said.

“You would? Really?”

“Yes. I can't think of a better use of my time.”

“I'm not askin' you to leave Connecticut for good. I could spend time up there with you, too. I was kinda thinkin' that the summer and fall is nicer up there, and the winter and spring are nicer in Texas.”

“Oh, you were, were you?” She laughed. “How are you going to run a ranch in Amarillo from Farmington, Connecticut?”

“I haven't figured that part out, yet. But my dad is there, and so are my cousins. How are you going to be Miss Connecticut Etiquette in Texas?”

She kissed him. “Why, I'll just be in charge of expanding Finesse's southwestern division, that's all.”

“Think you can get used to cow patties?”

“For you,” she said, running a hand over his chest, “I can get used to anything. As long as you take me to the opera in Dallas every once in a while.”

“Opera?” Dan's head shot up from where he'd been nuzzling her breast. “That wasn't part of the bargain! I hate that fruity cat-strangling.”

“Opera for cow patties. I think it's a fair trade, don't you?”

He groaned. “Okay, okay.” He went back to her breasts and all was quiet except for her quickened breathing and occasional sound of pleasure. Then he raised his head again.

“Lil? Do you even own a pair of jeans?”

“Yes, believe it or not I have several pairs.”

“Boots?”

“Yes, but they're Prada.”

“Who?”

“Never mind.”

“We'll get you some real boots.”

“Do I have to wear a belt like yours, too?”

“If you really hate it that much, we'll get you a concho belt.”

“Deal.”

All conversation ended at that point, because Dan went south from her breasts and words just didn't seem so important any longer.

Nana Lisbeth would not have approved of her granddaughter having relations with a man while she was a guest under someone else's roof.

Nana wouldn't approve of her having unmarried relations at all. Lisbeth London had done her very best to teach Lil what was right.

Good thing this felt so very, very right.

Standing in the shower with Dan half an hour later, Lil soaped his back, not to mention other things and felt that she'd finally joined her own generation. She'd put down her tea and had tequila. She'd ditched her panty hose and worn a thong. And she'd discovered that she liked her sex hot, spicy and often!

She would always love her grandmother. But she needed to live her own life, not Nana's.

 

“A
RE YOU READY
to go?” Lil knocked on Dan's door after she'd gotten dressed.

He opened it, clasping his watch on his wrist. “Yep.”
He wore not a red jacket and riding breeches, but a pair of blue jeans and his cowboy boots.

“Where are your clothes for the chase?”

“You're lookin' at 'em.”

“You can't ride like that!”

“Yes, I can. I've made special arrangements.” He grinned at her. “Come on, honey, let's go show these English how it's done.”

She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Dan? What are you up to?”

“I don't know what you mean,” he said, all innocence.

“I think your mother has a gun. You should keep that in mind.”

He laughed. “Mama and I had a chat. You may see a change in her attitude about a lot of things.”

 

L
IL DIDN'T RIDE
, which was something that Dan promised to remedy. So she was on the terrace with the other guests, sipping a mimosa, when the participants in the chase gathered in their red jackets on their glorious thoroughbreds.

She was exchanging small talk with Lovely Nigel, who'd unbent enough to tell her all about cricket, when the poor man choked, pointed and bit down so hard on his cigar that he chomped right through it.

Lil turned and was not entirely unsurprised to see the love of her life seated on a huge Appaloosa with a monumental Western saddle. He wore his jeans, a pair of leather chaps, a T-shirt, cowboy boots and a huge grin.

Lovely Nigel sputtered and coughed while Lil tried,
and failed, to hide her smile. Louella took one look and drained her bloody Mary, poking herself in the eye with the celery stalk. Then she went for another.

“Preposterous!” exclaimed one matron, as the master of ceremonies blinked at Dan.

“Obnoxious!” said a gentleman with bad teeth.

“Perfect,” murmured Lil.

The master of ceremonies seemed reluctant to allow Dan to participate. He headed toward him and they exchanged words. Then a familiar figure cantered toward them, her blond curls escaping from her black hat.

Claire spoke with the MC and he blustered. She reasoned. He waffled. She reasoned some more. Finally the man threw his hands wide in a gesture of defeat.

He sounded the trumpet and the steeplechase began. Dan and all the rest of them were off. Lil closed her eyes as he flew over a huge hedge, Western saddle and all, and disappeared from sight.

If he didn't break his neck, she was going to marry him.